Debt limit proposal has costs for
many

WASHINGTON — A new bipartisan plan to reduce government borrowing would target some of the most cherished tax breaks enjoyed by millions of families — those promoting health insurance, home ownership, charitable giving and retirement savings — in exchange for lowering overall tax rates for everyone.

Many taxpayers would face higher taxes — a total of at least $1.2 trillion over the next decade, and perhaps more.

The details and impact of the plan, released this week by the bipartisan "Gang of Six" senators, emerged as President Obama called congressional leaders to the White House on Wednesday to determine, in separate meetings, their bottom line for extending the nation's debt limit while also cutting spending at the greatest amount possible. The role of additional tax revenue remained a sticking point.

With the default deadline of Aug. 2 approaching, the White House signaled for the first time that Obama would be willing to sign off on a short-term extension of the debt limit if a grander deal were in the works and needed only a few days' worth of extra time to wind its way through the legislative process.

For its part, the Gang of Six plan punts on many of the most difficult issues, leaving it to congressional committees to fill in the details later. But supporters say it provides a framework to simplify the tax code, making it easier for businesses and individuals to comply while eliminating incentives to game the system.

"I think this is an attempt to find a middle ground on taxes that emphasizes keeping rates low and broadening the base as much as possible, and I think that's a very positive aspect of it," said Eugene Steuerle, a former Treasury official who worked on the last tax reform package that passed Congress, in 1986.

Coupled with spending cuts, the plan would reduce deficits by nearly $4 trillion over the next decade. While Obama and senators from both parties lauded the plan as a possible breakthrough in their negotiations, some congressional leaders said the plan lacks details and could produce much bigger tax increases than advertised.

The Republican staff of the House Budget Committee issued a critique saying the revenue increase could exceed $2 trillion over the next decade, when compared with current tax policy.

"A tax increase is the wrong policy to pursue with so many Americans out of work," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.

Simplify tax code

The plan would simplify the tax code by reducing the number of tax brackets from six to three, lowering the top rate from 35 percent to somewhere between 23 percent and 29 percent. That could provide a windfall for wealthy taxpayers because the 35 percent tax bracket applies to taxable income above $379,150.

To help pay for lower rates, the plan would reduce popular tax breaks for mortgage interest, health insurance, charitable giving and retirement savings. Other tax breaks would be spared, including the $1,000-per-child tax credit and the earned income tax credit, which helps the working poor.

The alternative minimum tax, which was enacted in 1969 to make sure that high-income families pay at least some income tax, would be repealed. The tax was never indexed for inflation, so Congress routinely patches it each year — at an annual cost of about $70 billion — to prevent it from hitting more than 20 million middle-income families.

About 35 million households claimed the mortgage interest deduction in 2009, and about 36 million households claimed deductions for charitable contributions, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the congressional scorekeeper on taxes.

The Gang of Six plan does not specify how the tax breaks would be trimmed. Democrats have several proposals that would restrict wealthy families' use of the breaks, while preserving them for most low- and middle-income taxpayers. Such a plan would offset rate cuts for high-income families by limiting their ability to take advantage of various tax breaks.

Starting in 2018, the new health care law would tax high-priced health insurance plans. There are several proposals to adjust the tax to include more health plans while sparing lower-income families with more modest coverage.

The Gang of Six plan is silent about taxes on capital gains and dividends, but tax experts said it would be difficult to generate more than $1 trillion in additional revenue without increasing taxes on investments. The current top rate on capital gains and dividends is 15 percent — well below the top rate for ordinary income.

"No matter what they do on the revenue side, by some measure they are going to be taking something away from somebody," Steuerle said. "The whole budget package is about asking a lot of people to give up something they think they have."

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